Olympic National Forest Pyramid Fire Is 100% Contained

Olympia, Wash. – The small Pyramid Fire burning on state and U.S. Forest Service land north of Crescent Lake is 100 percent contained. One Olympic National Forest engine crew and two Washington Department of Natural Resources fire crews are currently working on the “mop up” stage of the suppression effort, in which they extinguish or remove burning material around the control lines and address other potential hazards that could breach control lines. They expect to complete this process by late Wednesday or early Thursday.

The Pyramid Fire, which burned approximately 1.5 acres, is believed to be human-caused due to the recent lack lightning, the main source of ignition for natural-caused wildfires, in the area. The exact cause of the fire is as yet undetermined.

As warm and dry conditions are expected to return later this week, all forest visitors should be extremely careful with fire and other potential sources of ignition. Approximately 95% of wildfires on the Olympic National Forest are human-caused.

Application Deadline: Wednesday, September 24, 4:00 p.m. Now is the time to apply for funding from Olympia’s Lodging Tax for 2015 tourism-related services. The application is posted on the City’s website: olympiawa.gov/lodgingtax. Olympia receives an amount equal to a 4% tax on overnight hotel/motel/bed & breakfast lodging in Olympia. By state law, the city’s Lodging Tax Fund is used for:

marketing and operating expenses of festivals and events designed to attract tourists

capital and/or operating costs of tourism-related facilities owned by the City, and

Non-profit and government agencies that provided tourism services or operate tourism facilities are eligible to apply. Applications will be reviewed by Olympia’s Lodging Tax Advisory Committee who will recommend 2015 funding to the City Council. All agencies awarded funding will be required to sign a contract with the City to provide specific tourism services during 2015.

In particular, the Olympia committee is seeking applications for events, activities, and facilities that attract tourists who stay overnight in Olympia hotels, motels, and bed & breakfast facilities.

Olympia, Wash – Snow Creek Road will be closed for culvert repair just outside the Olympic National Forest boundary from August 11 to September 5. Jefferson County Department of Public Works will temporarily close the road between mileposts 3.74 and 3.82 in order to access the site of the culvert over Andrews Creek.

Snow Creek Road is used by visitors to reach the Snow Creek Trailhead on the Olympic National Forest. During the road closure, the trailhead will not be accessible from Highway 101 via Snow Creek Road. Visitors may continue to access the trailhead by taking Woods Road (which becomes FS 2850) off Highway 101 east of Sequim.

SR 520 Floating Bridge To Close Aug. 8-11 For Construction

SEATTLE – State Route 520 Eastside Transit and HOV Project crews will be hard at work over the weekend as they place asphalt on new ramps and stripe the freshly paved lanes east of the SR 520 bridge. Beginning Friday night, Aug. 8, all SR 520 lanes across Lake Washington will be shut down in both directions between Montlake Boulevard and Interstate 405 for a weekend-long closure.

Late night drivers should also prepare for three nights of westbound closures this week, Aug. 4 to 8, between 92nd Avenue Northeast and Montlake Boulevard as crews pour concrete and put the finishing touches on the new West Connection Bridge. The structure, due for completion this fall, will connect SR 520’s existing lanes in Seattle with the highway’s new, six-lane floating bridge when it opens in spring 2016.